(Des Moines, IA) Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer Tuesday was joined by a retired pro-football star in attacking an executive order issued by Iowa’s Governor which shields state workers from discrimination based on their “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.”
Governor Tom Vilsack issued the order in September. Last night, Bauer urged Vilsack, who’s a democrat, to be a “big man” and rescind it.
“The Governor of this great state has made a very big mistake,” Bauer said during a rally, which attracted over 200 people to a Des Moines hotel to voice opposition to the executive order.
Bauer said conduct, like homosexuality, should not be included in anti-discrimination policies.
“I believe that Iowa can show the way, that you can be tolerant of your neighbors without twisting the law that was there to protect minorities into something that ends up protecting conduct that most of the civilized world still rejects,” Bauer said.
Former Green Bay Packer Reggie White said the majority of Americans feel homosexuality is wrong.
“I have no problem with homosexuals,” White said in his speech to the same crowd. “No one can prove that I have problems with homosexuals. If I had a problem with homosexuals, I wouldn’t befriend them and try to minister to them. I have a problem with the agenda.”
White said the agenda advanced by gays and lesbians should be offensive to those who long ago fought to win blacks basic civil rights.
“What Dr. King and many people in the civil rights movement fought for, for a group of people to say they want those same civil rights…based on your sexual orientation is an offense to every black person in America,” White said.
About a year and a half ago, White sparked a firestorm when he addressed the Wisconsin state legislature and denounced homosexuality as a sin. He lost lucrative endorsement and sports contracts in the aftermath.
White has endorsed Bauer’s bid for the presidency and appeared with Bauer at rallies in seven Iowa cities on Tuesday.